I politely said in our FAQ that you could contact us with song ideas but truth be told, I think it’s better when people don’t. It’s mostly because humor is entirely subjective — what’s funny to you is not always funny to someone else, and in our case, we might not even know enough to deliver the joke on your behalf. Brett Elston from GamesRadar came up with a great idea a few years back and pitched it to me, and I liked the joke — but I just didn’t have the game knowledge to pull it off. If it’s your idea, you know why it’s funny, and 99 times out of 100, you should do it.
But that one time out of 100 happened a few months ago. I got a message on Facebook from Chris Repetti with a suggestion that was really just a title. But it was the right title — it was the kind of title that once you hear it, the entire rest of the song falls into place around it. “Three Red Lights,” “The Viva Pinata Song,” and “Halo ((All I Play-Oh))” were like that too; I knew they were worth doing just from hearing the jokey phrase over the title of the song in my head. Jude and I both loved the idea instantly. So we’ve rolled the dice and Chris’ idea will be our next song. We get by with a little help from our friends.
We are currently in the later mixing stages; there may be multiple passes before we get to a final mix that’s ready to release. I need to record a few game sound effects to put the bow on top of the song’s concept/jokes. As a fan, Chris has asked that it debut on TalkRadar, and since it was his idea and he’s getting basically nothing but our deep gratitude for the song idea, this can be arranged! When I have more info on exactly when it’s up, we’ll post it here.
If you are into classic arcade culture at all, you know what I’m talking about. The day before PAX East 2011, we drove from Boston to New Hampshire for a pilgrimage to the largest arcade in the world. This is our story.
If you didn’t hear our epic interview from PAX East, get episode 6 here. Jude and I rarely get a chance to be interviewed together, and we went into lots of weird detail.
It was great to see everybody who came out for the breakfast meeting — you know, the one without the breakfast? The food court was open but it turned out there was no food ready, so we just stood around and talked about stuff. Future stuff. Secret stuff. And these are the people who are sworn to secrecy:
Jude and I also did a podcast, which I’ll post a link to as soon as it’s up — it’s a juicy half-hour where we talk about how we started out, how we do what we do, and all that crap. Kat got a great photo of Jude, who is now officially The Cute One.
Yes, that makes me The Loud One.
Better still, we came up with another idea on the way out of the show and I wrote some lyrics on the plane ride home. I don’t know if it will bloom as much as we want it to, but we should be able to get at least one song out of that idea. Stay tuned.
Sunday! Sunday! Sunday! Jude and I will be at PAX East — together! — and we want to meet up with folks. We got together with folks in the food court last year and that worked, so let’s do that again. There is a food court in the BCEC — the “Tastes of Boston” — so let’s meet there at 9:30am on Sunday. The show opens at 10, Jude and I have an interview at 11, and I have to be on a panel at noon (my schedule is here), but this should give us a little time to sit, hang, talk about geeky stuff, maybe reveal a little of what we’ve been working on (if you are willing to be sworn to secrecy), get some food and then hit the full-frontal nerdity that is PAX East.
If something goes horribly wrong and the food court is not open that early, just watch the Twitter feed and we’ll call an audible.
UPDATE: According to the official PAX East site, daylight savings kicks in this weekend — so make sure you set your clocks ahead Saturday night. Do not be late for the meeting, chumps! Also, the food court should be open for the hours of PAX, and you can enter the hall at 8am. However, it’s still unclear as to whether they will serve food that early.
Several people have asked if they can have an iPhone/iPad version of the Arcade Gaming Shrine video, so they can take it with them and relive the magic in, say, a bus station.
The answer is yes, yes you may. Kat converted it to an M4V — 640×360, 1500ish bitrate, about a 45MB file — and it’s downloadable right here.
We’ve got a few different projects in the works, and we hope they will be out to you this year. Maybe not — since this is a hobby and not a day job, the schedule tends to be rather…elastic. But here’s a few updates on where our heads are at: (more…)
Just wanted to say thanks to everyone for their support this past year, and we hope you’re enjoying your holidays. 2010 was an awesome year for us, even if we didn’t get a lot of content out. We finished up “Arcade Gaming Shrine” and finally got it out, then we spent the summer months planning, shooting, and releasing our first live-action video. We also worked out our merch issues and got a new provider for t-shirts. All in all, we’re happy, and we hope you liked what we were able to offer too — especially what with Dan relocating to LA and all.
In 2011, we hope to release more songs, of course. We have two in the works and ideas for a few more, plus we’ve pitched a panel for PAX East this March in Boston. We’ll both be at the show (and we’d like to see you, even if the panel doesn’t get approved) and we’ll have more info on that later.
Have a happy and safe and game-filled holiday, and we’ll see you in a few. And thanks again for all the grass-roots support you’ve given us this year — it really does mean a lot to us both.
If you are just joining us: Jude lives near Boston. I live in LA. The annual California Extreme arcade show takes place near San Jose. We all got together a few months ago with several friends and made a video for our most recent song, which you can download here.
The road was more arduous than we expected. There are a few scenes shot where Jude lives, a few where I live, but most was shot at and around California Extreme 2010 — in our hotel rooms, at the strip mall down the street, and at the show itself. Most of it between 2AM and 5AM. And once we shot it, we found the lighting was weird, the colors were off, the files were huge…many technical hurdles delayed things. But with help, we overcame them and…well, hopefully you at least find it funny!
We are very, very grateful to the California Extreme team for trusting us to shoot overnight in a room with well over 400 irreplaceable arcade machines in it. Obviously, the song itself is proof that we are respect the subject matter, but still. We are forever in their debt for letting us shoot this with the real deals.
Two other credits that didn’t get credited: We bought ninja outfits online, then Kat sewed the colored tunics/accessories. Jude’s sister Sheridan tag-teamed with Kat to create that awesome PSwap animated logo at the beginning. And beyond that, the full credits are after the jump. (more…)
Just a quick note to share some progress. Jude headed back to the east coast, got a few pick-up shots for the video, and we worked out some technical issues just in time for a fresh batch of technical issues. But that’s fine, that’s the nature of things. The good news is that we have a full video together now, and both Jude and I like the content.
There are basically two steps left: polish and approval. The video needs polish because we’re mixing footage from several locations with varied (and sometimes poor) lighting. Jude’s sister Sheridan happens to be an ace at this stuff so she’s going to take a crack at evening out the color balance and whatnot; she has already created an awesome animated logo for all future video projects going forward.
Then there’s approval. We are not expecting any issues here, but since we shot most of it on location at California Extreme, the folks who run that show would like a look-see to make sure, like, nobody who is shy is accidentally caught on video. I don’t think there will be any problems, as we brought our own cast of volunteers for the shoot and you barely see anybody who isn’t in the band or a friend of the band. But for all the trust and access the CAX team gave us, this is the least we can do. So once we have their sign-off on the final cut, we will be ready to post. Fingers crossed, hopefully first week of September.
I have posted a few more of Kat’s shots from our CAX photo session at Facebook (we have a new group, did you know?), none of which are from the video…but after the video comes out, there will be a few more.
